Delta Planes Collide On Tarmac At Chicago's O'Hare International Airport

CHICAGO (Associated Press) -- Two Delta Airlines aircraft have collided on the tarmac at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

Delta spokeswoman Chris Kelly Singley says a plane headed to Minneapolis and one headed to Atlanta struck each other before takeoff Friday. Singley said there were no injuries.

A Chicago Fire Department spokesman said the two planes were backing away from loading gates when they collided. It was not immediately clear which parts of the aircrafts made contact. However, officials say the planes incurred minor damage.

Singley said the passengers on the Minneapolis flight were being placed on a flight later Friday. Those on the Atlanta flight were being placed on flights later Friday or early Saturday.

Comments

[sackman]

05:33 PM on 07/31/2011

This goes on all the time, I was working at Ohare in the 90s ,When a plane rolled past a work van and scraped the whole the side off..............

[YOKEL13]

09:21 AM on 07/31/2011

It's not "tarmac", it's concrete.

[myhumangetsmeblues]

07:49 PM on 07/30/2011

Another case of too much regulation. Nothing a little GOP reform (i.e. gutting of funding) couldn't improve. Maybe if both pilots were carrying sidearms?

PRAY AWAY the STUPID!

[jimbob1234]

07:44 PM on 07/30/2011

Union Fail

[a10flatliner]

10:07 PM on 08/04/2011

It was reported that the Air Traffic Controller in the tower was a recently discharged combat Marine, new on the job, who inadvertantly set the two planes down on runway 3-4 with one going North, and the other landing South'
After the confusion, they were identified as a Saudi Airliner, and the other as Iranian Super Shuttle.
When asked for comment by FAA authorities, the controller said...
"Oooop's! My bad".

[kaykaythere]

07:39 PM on 07/30/2011

Anyone for cutting the FAA anymore? Or laying off anymore people?

[CommonSenseForChange]

06:59 PM on 07/30/2011

Expect lots of 'minor' errors as more and more jobs are outsourced and quality controls are minimized. For example, this is a direct quote from this HP article with no by line:

"Delta spokeswoman Chris Kelly Singley says a plane headed to Minneapolis and one headed to Atlanta made struck each other before takeoff Friday. Singley said there were no injuries."

WT* does this mean? Who wrote this? Did they get paid?

[foxisms]

05:58 PM on 07/30/2011

Stuff happens.
Having this take place on the tarmac is certainly preferable to having it take place at 35,000 feet.

[Rubyfoo]

05:06 PM on 07/30/2011

Planes don't back up, they're towed. So it seems that the fault lies with the ground crew rather than the pilots.

[343Guiltyspark]

06:44 PM on 07/30/2011

Not always. There was an airport that had to stop letting airplanes back up themselves because putting on reverse thrusters were breaking the windows in front of them as they backed out. They do get towed a lot, just not all the time.

[retromega]

05:02 PM on 07/30/2011

Do they hire pilots that are blind or ones that disregard ground control? Delta is a typical airline, it sucks!

[carolo]

10:48 PM on 07/30/2011

Tell me about it. I flew Delta last month and had to sit in the airport for 12 hours because the plane had a problem and it appeared they had no other planes around. Finally got a bucket of bolts to fly me the last two hours of my trip.

[Hypnos Rises]

04:53 PM on 07/30/2011

To be renamed Knucklehead Airlines...

[Billy Jack]

04:52 PM on 07/30/2011

It's House Republicans fault for cutting FAA funding

[Stuzzadelic]

04:53 PM on 07/30/2011

Bingo. We pay the price.

[kmswriter]

04:49 PM on 07/30/2011

I am not surprised by this story - back in '94 our flight into Chicago from Tuscon AZ landed in Chicago only to come to a sudden stop as another flight was on the takeoff runway - like a crossroad - sudden stop literally - they tried for an hour to unfreeze the planes breaks...then they sent the buses to take us to the gate...

I remember having to calm the lady in front of me when she was concerned about a plane coming in behind us - I assured her they surely have closed our runway.....she was about to become hysterical...

[AZbarbu]

06:44 PM on 07/30/2011

Reading these articles and posts must drive down intelligence.

This post misspells Tuscon (it's Tucson) and uses "breaking" for braking. I stopped reading after that.

The article to which this is responding has its own problem:

"...one headed to Atlanta made struck each other..."

made struck? MADE STRUCK?

Come on people...

[kmswriter]

09:11 PM on 07/30/2011

I so appreciate you takin' yur time to edit my comment....we here in HP land overlook spellin' - unless it is so aggregious it distorts the massage - oops i mean message - ha - thought ya cot me - unfanned...now you have nun

So AZbarb to you too!

[Free Market27]

03:40 PM on 07/30/2011

Get rid of dept of homeland security. The US should not be involved in overseas wars. And it should not be funding Israel. Eliminate those two government roles and there will be no terror attacks in the US.

[Steven Travis]

04:15 PM on 07/30/2011

wtf? Try to stay on topic for just one second...

[Free Market27]

03:38 PM on 07/30/2011

Airports should fund themselves. Air trafific control can be funded by the airports and airlines. No government needed. Since accidents are so uncommon, the airlines and the plane manufacturers could be given responsibility for safety, So much spending can be cut.

[quietfortoolong2]

04:49 PM on 07/30/2011

"the airlines and the plane manufactur­ers could be given responsibi­lity for safety"

We have the safest air traffic system in the world, and our airlines have a very good safety record, especially lately, for one reason only - government regulation. If it were up to airlines and manufacturers, they would pull the seats out of planes, make them all standing room only, with handrails (that they would charge for access to), and get rid of flight attendants, since they no longer serve food (even though their main job is safety - but, hey, accidents are so rare, why bother?), among other things. So, no thanks. I will fly regulated aircraft and airlines, please. At least that way I know I have a fighting chance against the almighty bottom line.

[kaykaythere]

07:44 PM on 07/30/2011

Believe me, I have flown in countries where airline regulations are no horrid, they should have you sign a paper saying you are willingly commiting suicide if you hop on that flight.

Airlines, like healthcare companies are a for-profit enterprise and will do anything and all necessary to do it on the cheap no matter the consequences. Imagine the risk benefit analysis that would take place in this country. Some actuary would probably tell the industry you can get away with one or two crashes a year and still make money if you charge for breathable air and use of a seatbelt.

[Attilatheblond]

06:03 PM on 07/30/2011

Nope, there would be even less standard practices and quality control re training and staffing. That would make things much more dangerous for pilots and passengers. Worst idea re air travel since Reagan fired the controllers.

It would be chaos as local airport authorities are already struggling just to keep up with maintenance costs. They would be robbing peter, the controllers, to pay paul, the runway crews.

[Startreklivz]

03:05 PM on 07/30/2011

Is it my imagination, or are we hearing a number of stories about taxi-way and tarmac collisions lately? Is this due to reductions in ground crew and traffic controllers?

[foxisms]

05:59 PM on 07/30/2011

Maybe it's all that exploding concrete an asphalt from the heat almost a half of the nation is experiencing?